Rubber Bands
by Vietta
Summary: Reno and Elena are fighting again and Rude is enjoying the show.


Rude sat in his desk, fighting a smirk. Reno and Elena were at each other's throats, again. It was very hard to focus on his work when the rebel and the rookie needed a mediator to their scuffle. Rude knew why they were fighting but he didn't care enough to step in and decide the winner of the battle. He sipped his coffee and stared at his computer monitor, hoping that eventually the two would settle it themselves so that he wouldn't have to step in. The only thing that worried Rude was that when Elena and Reno settle their fights on their own things got very messy.

Rude was saved from listening to more of their arguing by Tseng. When the dark haired man walked into the room, the silence that followed was as deafening as Reno and Elena's yelling. Tseng frowned, sipping his coffee and wordlessly asking for an explanation.

Elena cleared her throat and pointed at Reno. "He started it, sir."  
"He always starts it." Tseng snorted softly, bending down to pick a rubber band up off the floor. "I just need to know what he did to start it this time."

Reno frowned, sitting on the edge of his desk and folding his arms over his chest. "I didn't start shit! I was just sitting and she hit me with a rubber band!"

"Liar!" Elena frowned, hands on her hips and honey-brown eyes narrowed to slits. "You shot me first!"

"I keep telling you I didn't! I have a file to finish and I was working!" Reno frowned, teal eyes as narrow and cold as Elena's brown ones.

Blonde eyebrows touched as Elena's forehead wrinkled. "Reno, you're the only one who would shoot me with a damned rubber band! It's not like we've got a ghost in here throwing around rubber bands!"

Tseng held a hand up to stop the tirade, the rubber band he had just picked up dangling from one of his fingers. "Both of you shut up. Elena, please give me another rubber band."

Elena blinked and picked up a rubber band off Reno's desk, passing it to Tseng dutifully.

Reno raised an eyebrow as Tseng set his coffee mug down beside him. "Bossman?"

Tseng didn't speak as he hooked the first rubber band over his thumb and forefinger, stretching it and releasing the tension towards Reno's cheek. He did the same with the second rubber band, aiming instead for Elena's forehead where her thin blonde eyebrows were raised in shock and confusion. Reno and Elena rubbed the tiny red spots where Tseng's rubber projectiles had hit their marks. Tseng picked his coffee cup up and cleared his throat before raising it to his lips with a smirk. "Now that that's settled, don't you two have some work to do?"

Elena flushed dark and walked back to her desk, sitting and shooting Reno a violent glare. Reno returned the glare and slid back into his seat, his brown, at odds with his hair, eyebrows pinched together with residual frustration from the confrontation. Rude chuckled and shook his head, resuming his work on the file he had been filling out.

Tseng walked to Rude's desk and set his mug down, frowning softly as he bent down to whisper to Rude. Rude blinked and listened, his smirk wiped away instantly as Tseng spoke. "Rude, the next time you start a fight between them, I'm shooting you. I won't be using a rubber band either." Tseng's voice was low enough that Reno and Elena couldn't hear him, but Rude registered his message loud and clear.

Rude nodded as Tseng stood and cleared his throat. "Understood; sir. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. I'd hate to make good on my promise." Tseng snapped a rubber band at Rude, hitting him right in the forehead.

Rude rubbed his forehead as Tseng walked away, sighing softly and looking at Reno and Elena. Both of them were staring at him, but Elena was the first to speak up. "What did you do to get shot?"

Rude shrugged nonchalantly and resumed his paperwork, glad that neither of them asked any further questions. He knew Reno would pry later, but Rude wouldn't say anything. He had started the fight by flicking a rubber band at Elena, but he had a good reason. It was silly, but for him it was a very good reason. Elena was very, very cute when she fought with Reno. Rude had a crush on her, not that he would ever admit it to anyone, and he thought she looked adorable when she got angry. To him, watching Elena be angry was almost like watching a teddy bear stomp around and pout and Elena was angriest when she fought with Reno. So, since Elena was entertaining to watch when she fought with Reno, Rude had been finding little ways to spark fights between the two for a week. It was entertaining and since they were in a bit of a slump for missions the entertainment was needed.

Rude kept working, not truly paying attention to his two silent co-workers as he got caught up in a difficult file. His attention was regained, however, when a rubber band hit the top of his hairless head. He blinked and looked up, noting that Elena had left the room, probably to go to the bathroom or get lunch. Reno was frowning darkly at him, another rubber band ready to be flung across the room. "Why the hell did you start that one?"

"What are you talking about?" Rude rubbed the top of his head, eyeing Reno's rubber band curiously. Lucky for him, Reno was only armed with the rubber band and wasn't flinging other projectiles at him with it. Either he didn't have anything to fling at him besides rubber bands or the idea hadn't crossed his mind.

"You know what you did! You shot Elena and got me in trouble! Quit doing that! You've been starting fights all week, man! It's ridiculous!" Reno shot the rubber band at Rude and prepared another one, wishing that Tseng hadn't confiscated his thumb tacks. He needed a few sharp, pointy objects to shoot at Rude for payback but Tseng had gotten very worried about the safety of everyone lately because of a few… 'accidents' caused by Reno's bad luck with pointy things. He had taken away all of Reno's sharp objects, leaving him with only paperclips, rubber bands, and safety scissors for office supplies.

Rude sighed and rubbed his nose where Reno's band had struck him. "Sorry, Reno. I'll stop. I've just been bored."

"Well, if you're bored, get a magazine or something! I don't know why you like to watch me and Laney fight!" Reno crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, knowing Rude had deeper reasons for his antics than boredom. "You're not usually a troublemaker. What's up, man?"

"It's nothing, Reno, don't worry about it." Rude smiled and resumed working as Elena walked back into the office, her hands filled with a fresh mug of coffee and a cream cheese coated bagel.

"What's going on?" Elena asked as she sat her food on her desk and slid back into her chair.

"Rude says it's nothing but I don't believe him." Reno smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey, Laney, you should try and get Rude to spill his guts. He won't talk to me about it and you're a better interrogator than I am."

Rude blinked and opened his mouth to protest, but Elena spoke before he could. "Maybe. Depends on how bad I want to know. What am I trying to find out?"

"You're trying to find out why Rude hit you with a rubber band so that you'd argue with me" Reno gave Rude an evil, wide grin and propped his feet up on his desk.

Elena gaped at Rude, her ruby red lips making a near perfect oval as she stared at him, her yellow eyebrows disappearing into her bangs. "You shot me?"

Rude cleared his throat and stood, looking at his watch. "Would you look at the time! Seems that I'm scheduled for lunch." Rude made a hasty retreat from the room as Reno cackled, plotting several ways to kill the redhead and make it look like an accident as Elena stood up to follow him. Apparently he had crossed a line in framing Reno, but he had planned to make up for it by buying the man a beer that night. Now, Rude was thinking that Reno would be lucky if he made it home in one piece. As Rude ran down the hall to the nearest elevator, Elena's footsteps not far behind, Rude was pretty sure he would be lucky if he made it home in one piece himself.

* * *

**Author's Note: I love Rude/Elena. There needs to be more stories of them, and so I have written another! I thought this was cute : ) Hopefully you guys agree!**


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